Bickering

I’m off work today, hurrah, and work continues on Monkey. I’m going to focus on it exclusively for the next couple of weeks to get it done. Here’s a quick fun rule, that sits outside the main skill resolution mechanic.

Bickering Contests.
Bickering is a special type of action.

The during the Journey to the West, Monkey, Sandy and Pigsy continuously bicker with one another. They endlessly argue about who should carry the master’s baggage, which way to go next, the best way to deal with the demon that blocks their way….

Because bickering is such as major part of the novel, here is a quick game mechanic that players may use to resolve such arguments between the player immortals in a way that brings a clear in game advantage for the winner.

1. Each player involved in the bickering draw a card from their fortune deck.
2. The player with the highest card wins the exchange.
3. Play out three such exchanges.

The player who has won the most exchanges, wins the argument. The other immortals, even if they don’t agree with the winner must go along with the winner. The winner bolstered with success gains an extra card on his next action draw.
If the result of the three exchanges is a draw there is no winner, the Narrator quickly moves the action along to the next scene.

Note: Players may not transfer cards into or out of their fortune hands during a Bickering Contest.

Hmmn, once again you force me to properly think things through and explain myself better 🙂

1. The person who wins the contest, gets the other party to go along with their plan. They get to ‘set the next scene’* so to speak and gain one card bonus to their next action in that scene.

2. The losing party has to go to the next scene and take part in the first part any action that may occur there. What they do after this first when they get there is up to them.

An example from the book. Pigsy and Monkey are arguing about the best way to attack a Dragon that blocks their way across a river (the Son of one of the Dragon Kings, who ends up as Tripitaka’s horse). The main thrust of the bickering is who leads the attack. Pigsy wins the contest and gets a bonus card for his first attack on the Dragon. Monkey has to help with the attack for the first round (so he has to make an attacking action) but after the first round he has the option to run away or continue helping Pigsy. Monkey decides to carry on helping Pigsy.

*Setting the Scene, and how players get to do it (by Bickering, playing Weaknesses or spending Fortune points) is something that is covered in Chapter 4: Developing the Story.